Blue Clouds

by Patricia Rice

  Meg grimaced. “I agree. Let’s get out of here. Can I go with you? George will want to stay for it all.”

  They pushed down the aisle and retreated to the back of the room. Morris was waiting by the door by the time they reached it. He bowed and held it open for them.

  “Miss Cochran, I believe?” he asked as he followed them out. “I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with you several times on the phone.”

  “Mr. Morris, my friend, Meg Kelly. I think you knocked their aspirations flat on their rears.” From the corner of her eye, Pippa caught Doug leaning against the Mercedes, waiting. Reassured, she lingered.

  Morris smiled. “That is one way of phrasing it. Give my regards to Seth. I’m driving back to L.A. tonight and won’t be coming out his way.”

  “Knowing Seth, I daresay he’s already forgotten you were coming and why. Have a safe drive.” Pippa offered her hand in farewell.

  Morris took it but shook his head at her parting words. “Oh, he’ll remember eventually. Mostly, he has different priorities.”

  They watched him stride confidently toward his low-slung, sporty Mercedes.

  “Odd little man,” Meg offered.

  Pippa laughed. “What did you expect of Seth? Johnny Cochran?”

  Meg tagged along behind her as Pippa aimed for the safety of the Mercedes and Doug. Knowing Billy could be anywhere made her nervous. He hadn’t used his gun yet, but there was always a first time.

  “All right, so I’ll have to give the Grim Reaper credit for trying,” Meg said grumpily. “But I don’t think he tried very hard.” She looked up at Doug, standing with arms crossed and listening with a dangerous frown. “Hello, Mr. Brown. You missed an enlightening meeting.”

  “Name’s Doug, and I ain’t interested in being enlightened. I just wanna get outta here before that maniac shows up again.” He swung open the car door.

  “He’s not been around, has he?” Pippa asked anxiously as she climbed in.

  “Nope, but I ain’t too fond of none of these other characters creeping in and out neither. That canker sore of a woman Seth married been out here consorting with the enemy. I don’t like the looks of none of it.”

  “Natalie? Natalie’s been consorting with someone?” Meg asked with obvious interest as she climbed in beside Pippa, not any more concerned that Seth’s chauffeur didn’t behave like a chauffeur than Pippa was.

  “With that shiny-haired Morgan fella. Someone ought to push them all off a cliff.” Doug roared the engine to life and eased the car from the lot.

  Pippa giggled. “I suggested setting them on fire, but Meg disapproves.”

  “Setting Chad’s mother on fire wouldn’t be a smart move,” Meg agreed. “But I’m beginning to wonder about Taylor. Surely he knew better?”

  Pippa knew Doug was listening, but she figured he’d heard most of it at the door. He might act aloof and disinterested, but he had satellite radar for whatever happened around him. “I imagine Taylor knew he was stealing Seth’s land but figured if he moved quickly enough, he wouldn’t get caught. That’s why this all came up so unexpectedly. I’m wondering what Seth will do now, though. Could he buy that company?”

  Meg gasped and flopped back in the seat at that possibility. “Taylor would choke, but a new plant... Do you think he might?”

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” Pippa warned. “And figure Taylor won’t take it lying down. It could get nasty before it gets better.”

  Doug let Meg out at her house, waited until she was safely inside, then drove the car back through town the way they’d just come.

  “Did we forget something?” Pippa didn’t like sitting in the backseat alone, but Doug liked having the front to himself. She’d quit arguing with him weeks ago.

  “Nah, but I wanted to see if that Chevy behind us is lost and thinks we can lead him home.” Doug glanced in the rearview mirror, then swung the Mercedes sharply to the left at a yellow light.

  Pippa glanced through the heavily tinted windows, seeing only the headlights stopping at the intersection. “It’s a small town. Could just be kids cruising, looking to see who’s in the fancy car.”

  “Yeah, right, like Madonna’s gonna come down here on a Tuesday night and have a burger at the drive-in.” Doug turned the wrong way down a one-way street.

  Pippa held her breath until they turned down an alley. Good thing traffic was light. She glanced over her shoulder again. No headlights. “There isn’t much point in following us if they know the car belongs to Seth. Everyone knows where he lives.”

  “Yeah.”

  She didn’t like the way he said that, but she didn’t question it either. They both had watched entirely too many murder movies. Real people didn’t get pushed off cliffs by other cars.

  Billy liked Chevies.

  Doug’s silence made Pippa more tense. She glanced over her shoulder several more times, but she saw no more telltale headlights.

  They slowed to turn up the gated drive to the mansion. Just as Pippa decided it must have been kids following, an engine roared behind them, and a car shot past, headlights unlit, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.

  “Smartasses,” Doug muttered, punching the gate opener.

  But it had been more than that. The other car had come close enough to scrape paint. Another inch or two and he could have spun the Mercedes around and off the road.

  Instead of dropping Pippa off and taking the car to the garage, Doug parked in front of the house and followed her up the steps. Too shaken to protest, she stepped into the foyer, heard Seth at his computer, and hurried toward her room, leaving Doug to report what he would. She had too much thinking to do and it was better done alone, without the unnerving distraction of Seth.

  She kicked off her shoes and threw her purse on the couch. Nervously, she padded through the suite, reaching for the brush in front of her bedroom mirror and jerking it through her hair, wondering if her roots needed touching up, but not really seeing herself.

  What if Chad had been with her tonight? Or Seth? Maybe that was what Billy had been hoping, that Seth would be in the car, too. Billy hated it when she saw other men. He didn’t even like her talking to the doctors and administrators she’d worked with. He’d wanted her to quit working when they got married. She should have recognized the signs earlier, but she’d just contemplated the joy of staying home, tending the yard and house, and having children. Stupid. The first thing abusive men did was separate their wives or girlfriends from other people, from the help and support they needed.

  She hadn’t read enough on stalking. Maybe she could check the Internet tomorrow. How many stalkers followed their victims across the country? Didn’t they prefer personal confrontation to something so detached as driving a car off the road?

  Maybe it had been some kind of warning, a threat. Pippa jerked her head up and stared at her image in the mirror. The car hadn’t hit them, just showed them how easily it could be done. Was the warning for her? Or Seth?

  Before she could carry the debate further, Seth slammed through her bedroom door. She hadn’t even heard him enter the suite. Barefoot and wide-eyed, she stared at him.

  He looked ready to commit murder. But he didn’t scare her. She gravitated in his direction without hesitation, buried her face against his shoulder as he swept her up, slid her arms around him as if she’d done it every day of her life. He crushed her so tightly, she read his fury and frustration, sensing nothing sexual about this hug. His fear should have frightened her, but it had the opposite effect. She wanted to reassure him.

  “Doug’s just being dramatic,” she murmured against his shirt, running her fingers up and down the comforting jersey.

  “Right, and you just saw a ghost. I’m sending you and Chad to Hawaii tomorrow. Then I’m hunting down your demented boyfriend and toasting him in the fires of hell.”

  That smacked of a little more possessiveness than she was prepared to deal with right now. Pippa struggled to pull away, pounding on his arm when he didn’t immediately re
lease her. “For all you know, they could have been checking to see if you were in the car. There were a couple of people at that meeting tonight who probably could have killed you, given the right opportunity.” When he still didn’t release her, she shouted, “Let me go, Seth Wyatt!”

  He dropped his arms. Dark brows pulled down in fury, he glared at her. “Chad needs you. I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to you.”

  Chad needed her, but not the omnipotent Seth Wyatt. He didn’t need anybody. Well, neither did she. She was tired of needing. To hell with the lot of them.

  “I’m not your toy to stick on a shelf and away from the other kids. I’m a person, dammit, and I’ll do what I damned well please. I’m not going to Hawaii or anywhere else unless you come with us.”

  “I thought all women wanted to go to Hawaii,” Seth shouted back. “I’m trying to keep you alive and do you a favor. You’re my employee. I order you to take Chad to Hawaii.”

  “I quit, then!” she screamed back. “You can take your job and cram it where the sun don’t shine. I’m not leaving this house until I’m damned well ready to.”

  “It’s my house,” he pointed out, furiously.

  “It’s my life!”

  Seth glared at her and ran his hand through his thick curls. “What if they were trying to kill me and you got hurt in the process? Do you think I could live with that?”

  “It’s my choice,” she said coldly. “For this past year, I’ve let Billy take care of me. I let him take over my life. I let him tell me what to do and who to do it with. Because he was taking care of me.”

  She heard herself screaming but couldn’t stop. All the words boiled over and hissed, as if they’d been kept in a pressure cooker too long. “Billy always knew what was right, what was best for me. Do you damned well think I’ll let another man walk right into his shoes? Not on your life, buddy. Never again. I make my own choices from here on out. You just stay out of my way.”

  She flung the hairbrush at the wall to punctuate the argument, but she was nearer tears than anger now that the pot had boiled over. Seth’s stunned expression told her how very thoroughly she had ruined everything. He possessed only one method of dealing with emotional overload, and she’d just triggered it.

  “If that’s the way you want it,” he answered in his frostiest tone. “Wander outside this house at your own risk, just don’t take Chad with you when you do.”

  He swung around and stalked out again.

  Pippa watched him go with despair. Deep inside her, she still wanted him to take care of her. She just didn’t dare trust another man again.

  So that was what Billy had stolen, she thought wearily, turning toward the bed. He’d stolen her ability to trust.

  Chapter 31

  “Have you found a circus yet, Pippa?” Chad asked, sitting on the bed in his Superman pajamas as Pippa threw open the balcony doors.

  The sun danced off the auburn highlights of her hair as she swung around. “I’m looking, but I have the dates for the county fairs if we can’t find a circus. It’s too early for them yet, but we’ll get there.”

  Seth leaned against the doorjamb and admired the broad, easy smile she bestowed upon his son, a smile she hadn’t given Seth in days. This early in the morning, she hadn’t applied lipstick, but she didn’t need it. Pippa glowed with color, from the flashing green of her eyes, to the pink tint of her cherub cheeks, to the moist red of her mouth. Moist, luscious red mouth, he added contemplatively. Pippa had lips that could drive a man crazy.

  Of course, half the problem was that he couldn’t keep his own mouth shut when he should. If he’d kept his mouth off hers, they wouldn’t be having these lovers’ spats that interrupted routines. If he’d kept his mouth off hers, he wouldn’t have had to rewrite those last chapters either, he thought grumpily. And if he’d kept his damned mouth shut, she’d still be in his bed instead of freezing up like a Popsicle.

  Right at this moment, watching her cheerfully tease Chad into taking his medicine, Seth couldn’t decide which mistake was the one he shouldn’t have made.

  Heaven only knew, he still wanted her. He wanted her so much he ached with it. But if life had taught him nothing else, it had taught him that the aches of lust were easily assuaged and had never killed anyone yet. He just wasn’t certain this ache was entirely lust. Pippa was a new experience for him.

  Discovering he liked being fussed over and teased did not pacify Seth’s grumpy mood. He certainly didn’t need to pay someone to annoy him. He had an entire household like that already. He would’ve called Mac to see if she had a return date scheduled yet, but Dirk was still checking on her.

  It didn’t matter. Chad needed Pippa. He couldn’t let her go.

  She would drive him insane if she stayed here and he had to keep his hands off her.

  He didn’t have time to waste worrying over it. He’d finished the damned book. He deserved a little celebration. He didn’t dare let anyone but his editor see the manuscript the way it stood now. If he’d made a fool of himself, he would limit the number of people who knew. He could always change it back to the original. But dammit, he liked the way the thing had turned out. He just wanted to know if his mind had turned to mush or if anyone else thought it was as powerful as he did.

  “I’m going into L.A.,” he announced as he sauntered into the room.

  Pippa’s smile froze on her face, but at least she didn’t frown.

  “Is there a time I can tell people you’ll return?” she asked with the brisk efficiency of a proper administrative assistant.

  Seth nodded approvingly. “I have a meeting with my lawyer and dinner plans. I may stay overnight. Hold all my calls until I get back to you.”

  Her eyes widened perceptibly, and Seth’s stomach clenched with the impact. She had such damned long lashes, like velvet fringes. But he didn’t suffer from the impact of those lashes. He suffered from the impact of the empathy between them, the brain waves shooting back and forth, the questions she didn’t ask, the disappointment she didn’t voice.

  Natalie would have shouted and cursed. His mother would have resorted to shrill accusations and tears. Neither woman would have cared enough for his feelings to keep her mouth shut. Pippa did. Or she was being extremely efficient this morning and dismissing him as if he were one of the damned doctors she used to manipulate.

  Efficient assistants would not look at him as if he were a major disappointment.

  “What about the book?” she asked calmly. “What shall I tell your editor?”

  “It’s done.” Seth knew he sounded curt, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He deserved a night in L.A. And she’d made it plain that she didn’t want to have anything to do with him and his overprotective nature. Heaven forbid that he should be classed with that Neanderthal ex-fiancé of hers. “I e-mailed it this morning.”

  The velvet fringe blinked, shuttered closed, and turned away. “I’m glad you’re done. Now you can relax a little.”

  Damn, now he felt guilty as sin. She’d worked as hard as he had these last weeks. She’d walked through hell with him, never wavering once. And he was leaving her in this house full of maniacs.

  Well, that was what he paid her for. He’d have to keep remembering that. No strings, they’d said. No commitments. Besides, she was safer here behind locked gates until they caught the crazy cop. He’d see Dirk in L.A. Something had to be done to put the creep behind bars.

  “Have you read the report on the town meeting? Meg says Taylor Morgan is telling everyone your lawyer has it all wrong.” Pippa stood up and eased toward the door now that Chad was peacefully eating his breakfast, unconcerned by their adult conversation.

  Seth followed her, lowering his voice so as not to disturb his son. “I’ll sue Taylor Morgan’s pants off if he tries to go through with the purchase of that company. You can tell the town gossips that. Beyond that, it’s none of their business.”

  “Of course.” She nodded her head, bouncing her hair across her cheeks and
not looking at him as she headed for the stairs.

  “Pippa.” He hated the strained sound of his voice as he spoke her name. He mastered flat and cold before she turned around. “I know what I’m doing. Have a little confidence in me.”

  She looked at him with an open curiosity and a wariness that pierced the impervious armor around his heart. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. Seth clenched his fingers to keep from touching her cheek. He walked on uncertain ground here. He knew he was sinking deeper, and he didn’t know yet whether to struggle against the treacherous quicksand or wait patiently and pray help would arrive before he sank.

  “There are good people out there,” she said softly. “Taylor Morgan isn’t one of them, but he isn’t the whole town. Remember Mikey and the kids before you decide anything. Kids don’t deserve the rap for what their parents do.”

  She hit him square on with that one, and he narrowed his eyes. “Who have you been talking to?”

  “Little birdies.” She smiled sweetly, then scampered down the rest of the stairs.

  Seth watched her dart into the office below. If there were any little birdies around here, it was his twitty assistant. She practically flitted from room to room. And like a bird, she brightened every corner.

  She would have him writing poetry instead of horror if she kept it up. With bad mixed metaphors.

  Growling just to remind himself that he could, Seth stalked down the rest of the stairs and out to the Jag waiting for him in the drive. He’d blow a few cobwebs loose before he reached the city.

  ***

  “Pippa? Is that you? Meg told me I could reach you here.”

  The voice from the past jolted Pippa out of her fugue. She stared at the computer screen and tried to remember what she’d been doing before the phone rang. It didn’t matter. She smiled joyously at Charlene’s voice. “Charley! How you doing? It’s good to hear a familiar accent.”